MILLIONS THROWN AWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14133, 7 August 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

MILLIONS THROWN AWAY.

FRENCH NAVY IN DISGRACEFUL CONDITION.

The report of the French Navy Commission, which has been anxiously awaited throughout the country, indicates that there is an entire absence of organisation in the Navy Department. Ships are ordered before the plans are completed, with the result that the frequent modifications greatly enhance the cost. The six new battleships of ' the Danton type will cost SO per cent, more than the original estimates. For the sum expended in France on building five battleship's Germany obtained six and Great. Britain: six and ;ahalf. Though France at one time led the way in constructing submarines, she is now surpassed,, as she has not enough men in her arsenals to execute the orders given. The six battleships of the Danton type are to be completed in 1911, but their guns and munitions will not .be ready till 1914 or 1915. .. The astounding statement is made that certain of these guns have been ordered without models ever being tested, v The defects .of the existing guns have caused so, many accidents that- firing practice has had to be abandoned by the Mediterranean Squadron. Certain big guns would probably be worn out after firing a hundred rounds— is to say, possibly before the termination of an important engagement. Large stocks of shells of a type condemned three and a-half years ago have since been manufactured, and were ■ still being manufactured last year. Ships are short both of guns and of ammunition: obsolete I guns have not been replaced, while others of the latest pattern could not fire a shot, having no shells. Parliament passed a Bill eight years ago providing for the construction of new docks with facilities for coaling and repairing, but the commission has discovered that all the credits voted for that purpose have been spent in other directions, chiefly in the colonies.